The video: An unidentified Los Angeles Dodgers fan became the object of widespread scorn over the weekend, when he dropped his daughter to try to catch a foul ball — in front of a national TV audience. To make matters worse, he let the ball bounce out of his hands to be picked up by someone else. (See the video below.) The girl — who appears to be around 7 years old — emerged from the incident unhurt. She playfully slapped her dad when he picked her up off the ground and put her back in her seat, but was shown smiling later, happily holding an ice cream cone.
The reaction: "Maybe this doesn't constitute child abuse," says Stephen Smith at CBS News, "but it's pretty awful parenting." At least the man's daughter had the sense to smack him for his carelessness. Hey, go easy on the "hapless dad," says Jeanne Sager at The Stir. "This looks like the sort of dumb@ss moment that happens to any parent." And give the guy credit for holding her up in the air to get a better look at the action — right up to the point when he "dropped her flat on her behind in front of thousands of people." Watch the family outing gone awry:
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